1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a pitching system with video display means and, more particularly, to such a machine that is adapted to pitch baseballs and softballs and throw tennis and other balls interchangeably to different locations and at different speeds and with different spins, synchronized to work in conjunction with a video display means to permit an individual to visually view an opponent, such as a pitcher, prior to and during delivery of the ball or pitch. The invention has particular applicability as a baseball pitching machine for both professional and amateur athletes in that it realistically recreates a pitching environment whereby a batter faces the image of an actual pitcher, which image is synchronized with the machine to interchangeably deliver a variety of pitches (i.e., fastballs, curveballs, changeups, etc.) at different speeds to different locations, without the need for manually readjusting or repositioning the machine between pitches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pitching machines and ball-throwing machines are well-known in the art and generally fall into four categories: (1) machines that employ a spring actuated arm mechanism to propel the ball; (2) machines that employ at least one rotating wheel or a pair of rotating, coacting wheels to propel the ball; (3) machines that rely on pneumatic pressure to propel the ball; and (4) machines that employ converging and diverging rotatable discs to propel the ball.
Examples of ball-throwing machines that employ a spring mechanism to propel the ball are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,759 which issued on Sep. 11, 1973 to J. G. Haworth for Automatically Varied Oscillation Type Ball Projecting Device and U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,749 which issued on Jun. 25, 1985 to Paul S. Giovagnoli for Spring-Type Ball Pitching Machine. Commercial versions of such a machine have been marketed by Master Pitching Machine of Kansas City, Mo.
In recent years, the majority of the commercially available ball-throwing or pitching machines employ one or two coacting rotating wheels which are used to propel a ball that is introduced into the nip between the rotating wheels or between a plate and a single rotating wheel. Examples of such machines are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,437 which issued on Apr. 3, 1973 to E. W. Halstead for Ball-throwing Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,567 which issued on Jun. 11, 1974 to Norman S. Serra for Coacting Wheel Ball Projecting Device; U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,827 which issued to Tommy L. Smith on Apr. 15, 1980 for Coacting Wheel Ball Projecting Device; U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,717 which issued to Edward W. Kahelin on Jan. 3, 1984 for Variable Double Wheel Ball Propelling Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,514 which issued to Fujio Nozato on Apr. 22, 1986 for a Ball-throwing Machine; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,885 which issued to Shigery Iwabuchi et al. on May 8, 1990 for a Pitching Machine. Commercial machines that employ a pair of rotating coacting wheels are marketed by The Jugs Company of Tualatin, Oreg., ATEC of Sparks, Nev., AAI American Athletic, Inc. of Jefferson, Iowa, K-Lin Specialties, Inc. of Huntington Beach, Calif. and OMNI Sports Technologies of Kansas City, Mo.
Machines that utilize a pair of coacting wheels are able to deliver a variety of different pitches, e.g., fastball, curve ball, screwball, etc. at a variety of different speeds. Changes in the pitch speed or pitch type are accomplished by varying the speed of the individual wheels and the angle of presentation relative to a horizontal and/or vertical plane. The ability of such machines to deliver different pitches is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,127 which issued on Nov. 29, 1966 to J. C. Bullock for Baseball Pitching Machine with Ball Curving Device; U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,409 which issued to Ralph W. Doeg on Sep. 14, 1971 for Ball Projecting Machine with Direction Control Mechanism; U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,437 which issued on Apr. 3, 1973 to Earle W. Halstead for Ball-throwing Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,047 which issued on Apr. 6, 1982 to James K. McIntosh et al. for Automatic Ball Pitching Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,284 which issued to James A. Shannon et al. on Feb. 8, 1983 for Baseball-Pitching Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,190 which issued to Clifford V. Harris on Apr. 7, 1987 for Ball Pitching Machine with Selective Adjustment Between Drive and Pressure Wheels.
While rotating wheel machines are capable of varying the speed of the pitch and the type of the pitch, an inherent problem with such machines, however, is that they require extensive adjustments and realignment of the machine in order to change from one pitch to another or from one location to another. For example, if a coach seeks to change the pitch to be delivered by the machine from a 90 MPH fastball to a 75 MPH curve ball or from a fastball in one position in the strike zone to a fastball in another position, the coach must manually readjust the wheel speeds, reposition the angle of the wheels relative to a vertical and/or horizontal plane, and manually realign the horizontal and vertical position of the machine. It can take as long as five minutes to accomplish these changes before the machine is properly re-positioned to be able to deliver the next pitch. As a result, coaches tend to use these machines to deliver a series of the same pitch to the same location rather than attempting to interchangeably deliver different pitches to different locations as a pitcher would do in an actual game. Accordingly, these machines are of only marginal value in attempting to prepare a batter for game conditions. Such machines frequently give the hitter a false sense of security, e.g., believing that because they can hit the same pitch delivered repeatedly at the same speed to the same location they will succeed in actual game conditions.
Others have recognized this problem and incorporated devices in such machines to permit adjustment of both the horizontal and vertical position of such machines. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,565 which issued on Dec. 29, 1992 to Yutaka Komori for Baseball Pitching Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,137 which issued on Sep. 6, 1994 to Yutaka Komori for Method for Improving the Accuracy of a Baseball Pitching Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,986 which issued on Nov. 1, 1994 to Earl K. McGrath et al. for Pitching Machine and Method; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,261 which issued on Aug. 1, 1995 to Kerry K. Paulson et al. for Ball Pitching Device. While permitting minor adjustments for both horizontal and vertical position to accommodate for slight changes in pitch speed, none of these patents permit rapid changing of pitch type, i.e., fast ball to curve ball, etc. Such change would only be accomplished by a major re-positioning and re-adjusting the rotational velocity of the two coacting wheels.
Attempts have been made to use three coacting rotating wheels in a pitching machine to permit the delivery of different types of pitches without the need for repositioning the machine between pitches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,523 which issued on Jul. 22, 1997 to Jack C. Scott for Ball-throwing Apparatus and U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,823 which issued to Johnnie E. Floyd on Apr. 17, 1984 for Ball-throwing Machine and System Having Three Individually Controllable Wheel Speeds and Angles describe two such attempts. The machines described in these patents are not commercial, however, due, in large measure, to their failure to precisely control the horizontal and vertical positioning of the machine. Moreover, they both fail to carefully consider and control the forces of the three coacting wheels on the ball in order to consistently deliver a variety of different pitches with the accuracy and precision required.
Granada Pitching Machines of Central Point, Oreg. recently introduced a three-wheel pitching machine that incorporates limited controls over the individual wheel speeds. The machine, known as the Triton G-2000, fails to provide for horizontal and vertical adjustments of the aiming point and, as such, is incapable of delivering a plurality of different pitches at different speeds and locations on an interchangeable basis.
The concept of programming a pitching machine to deliver a variety of different pitches has been discussed in prior patents, most notably in U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,653 which issued to Ferenc Kovacs et al. on Jun. 30, 1992 for Computer Controller Ball-throwing Machine and U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,208 which issued on Nov. 7, 1995 to Richard A. Pierce for Programmable Baseball Pitching. Such machines are of the two-wheel type and are incapable of rapid change in order to interchangeably deliver a variety of different pitches. Accordingly, the degree of programming offered by these devices is minimal, at best.
The marriage of a ball-throwing machine with a video display of a pitcher is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,744 which issued on Mar. 23, 1993 to Neil S. Kapp et al. for Baseball Batting Practice Apparatus with Control Means. Such device, however, fails to offer the unique advantages of delivering a variety of different pitches as contemplated by the present invention. The synchronization means of such device relies upon an audio signal generated by the video, without any regard to the status of the ball in the queued position. Furthermore, the ball queuing system of this device relies on gravity and is imprecise and subject to failure.
Against the foregoing background, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a ball-throwing machine synchronized to work in conjunction with video display means that can be used to interchangeably throw a variety of different types of balls including baseballs, softballs, tennis balls and the like with less than ten second intervals between throws, while permitting a user to visually view his or her opponent prior to and during delivery of the throw.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a ball-throwing machine that realistically recreates a pitching environment whereby a batter faces the image of an actual pitcher during his windup and release of the pitch.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a ball-throwing machine that is able to interchangeably deliver a variety of different pitches to a variety of different locations at a variety of different speeds without the need to manually readjust the machine between pitches.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a ball-throwing machine that is able to deliver such pitches without the need for manual adjustment of the machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a ball-throwing machine that allows a user to select the type, speed and location of each pitch or, alternatively, can be programmed to deliver a variety of pitches in a pre-determined or random manner.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide such a ball-throwing machine in which the controls for such machine can be easily reprogrammed to simulate a pre-determined or random pitch pattern.
To the accomplishments of the foregoing objects and advantages, the present invention, in brief summary, comprises a ball-throwing machine combined with a video display device that visually displays an actual pitcher or tennis player and which synchronizes the release of the ball with the video display so as, for example, to simulate an actual pitcher delivering an actual pitch. The ball-throwing machine is of the type having a power head including at least one and, preferably, three coacting wheels for propelling a ball toward a batter to simulate a pitch. In the preferred embodiment, the speeds of the three wheels are independently controllable so as to control the ball speed, spin rate and spin axis orientation. It will, of course, be appreciated that the machine can also be used to propel softballs, tennis balls, lacrosse balls and other ball-shaped objects.
The machine includes control means that include means for independently controlling the rotational speed of each wheel, means for independently controlling the alignment of the power head in the horizontal plane, and means for independently controlling the alignment of the power head in the vertical plane so as to permit said machine to interchangeably deliver pitches of differing types to different locations at different speeds. The means for controlling the rotational speed of each wheel further includes means for rapidly accelerating and decelerating the rotational speed of each wheel.
The control means also receives feedback from the means for independently controlling the rotational speed of each wheel, means for independently controlling the alignment of the power head in the horizontal plane, and means for independently controlling the alignment of the power head in the vertical plane so as to ensure the speeds and alignment have been reached.
In a preferred embodiment, the machine includes three coacting wheels for propelling the ball and a control system for simultaneously controlling the rotational speed of the wheels in combination with the horizontal and vertical alignment of the power head.
The control and synchronization of the video playback is also a function of the control means for the entire pitching system. A screen is situated adjacent to the front of the ball-throwing machine, between the ball-throwing machine and a batter. A digital video image player is situated in front of the screen to project a video image of a pitcher thereon. A ball is delivered by a feeder tube to and retained within a staging area behind the power head. The control system chooses an image appropriate for the type of pitch to be thrown and instructs the components of the machine to assume the rotational velocities of the three drive wheels and the horizontal and vertical angular position of the machine by accessing a data table. When the drive wheels have assumed said velocity and the machine has assumed the correct horizontal and vertical angular position, a signal is sent to the control means to commence playback of the video image and a timer is started to countdown the time required for the image of the pitcher to reach the position where the ball is to be released. Upon the termination of the countdown, the control means sends a signal to a solenoid located immediately behind the ball in the staging means, which solenoid impels the ball through the power head and thereafter through the screen, such that it appears that the pitcher in the video image has thrown the ball.